How to deal with shameless gossipers around you

We all love to gossip. It’s a big business for tabloid newspapers, and housewives spend a great deal of time gossiping. But then how do you deal with people who gossip about you?

A big part of dealing with people who gossip about you is in understanding the gossip itself, the thoughts that run in the mind of those who gossip and the psychology behind gossiping.

The person who gossips about you, is either someone who carries some resentment towards you or doesn’t have the courage to face you directly and so having found no other option talks about you in your absence

People will also gossip about you if they are jealous of you, or if they aren’t strong enough to face you with their concerns or if they feel worthless. Those people try to make themselves more worthy by saying that they are better than someone else.

After all if I am saying that John is really dumb then I am only trying to tell people that I am smart or at least smarter than him.

After you have waited for few days you can do any of the following based on how important the person is for you and the underlying causes for his gossip.

Let him burn

This is one of my favourite strategies, if someone is gossiping about me because of jealousy. I just keep sending him good news about me to keep him burning with his own fire.

Confront him

If the gossiper is causing damage to your reputation and if you don’t expect him to stop soon then call him when you are calm. Tell him that you are aware of his doings and that only those who are scared to face one another directly gossip. Most people will apologise and remember your call the next time they decide to gossip about you. Make sure not to threaten them because threatening will stimulate their anger and this stored anger will be released through more gossiping about you in the future.

And in case you find yourself with your friends and they start gossiping about someone, either change the subject if you can influence them or and if you aren’t the leader of the pack then at least try to prevent yourself from gossiping about others. Do this, and you will be in peace with your soul.